Personal electronic user devices (“user devices”) such as, for example, smart phones, are ubiquitous in today's society due to the capabilities they provide, advancements in technology, improvements in communications and data networks, the availability and accessibility of various resources, and decreased costs. As a result, the use of such devices continues to increase significantly. In an attempt to provide an enhanced user experience, various technologies have been developed and evolved for use with user devices to direct users to specific content or retrieve content and applications (“resources”) quickly and easily. For example, printed labeling or advertising may include two-dimensional images (e.g., Universal Product Code (UPC)) or matrix barcodes (e.g., QR Codes) that when read by video input to the user device and then converted to reveal the information encoded in the image, cause a web browser executing on the user device to be directed to a webpage. Such barcodes may be associated with a product and may include, for example, a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that, when read by a user device, prompts a web browser application to retrieve related information from the URL or access product information from a webpage identified by the URL.
In some kinds of communication media, such as, television or other video presentation, it may be difficult or impractical to encode information within bar codes or other optical patterns for scanning because the clarity or resolution necessary for decoding such patterns may be lacking. Moreover, such optical techniques are not applicable to non-visual communication media, such as radio or other audio or signal media. However, the recent increases in capability of user devices allow for automated identification of information and entities based on processing of non-visual communications received by a user device. This information can then be used by a user device in a variety of ways including the retrieval or activation of resources.